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Brazil defeated Japan 1-0 in a friendly Monday thanks to a penalty by Neymar in the 77th minute after he was tripped in the box on a rainy night at Tokyo’s new National Stadium, Associated Press reported.

It was Neymar’s 74th goal for the national team, leaving him three short of matching the record held by Pele. He also scored two penalties last week in a 5-1 victory over South Korea as Brazil tested itself on an Asian tour against two teams who qualified for the World Cup.

Japan is now winless against Brazil in 13 matches (11 losses and 2 draws). Brazil also stretched its unbeaten run to 13 games. Its last loss came just under a year ago to Argentina in the Copa America final.

Defender Marquinhos knows Brazil was fortunate to get away with the narrow victory.

“We expected this to be a tougher match, but we also played better against South Korea,” Marquinhos said. “We made some mistakes that gave them confidence. This is a good test against a team that is ready for the World Cup.”

Brazil, an early favorite along with defending champion France, is grouped with Cameroon, Switzerland and Serbia at the World Cup. Japan was drawn in the toughest group and must face Germany and Spain in Qatar. Costa Rica or New Zealand will fill the other place, according to Associated Press.

“Sometime in the World Cup all you need is to win 1-0, and that’s what we did today,” the Brazilian defender added.

Brazil coach Tite said his team is “much better prepared” than it was four years ago going to the World Cup in Russia. Tite took over that team after Dunga was fired in 2016, two years ahead of the World Cup.

“The previous cycle (2016-18) brought me the experience,” he said. “I don’t underestimate that. I didn’t think I would be this long with the national team.”

Tite said he had hoped to play England or France before the World Cup, which proved impossible. He said he’s now looking for a team ranked in the top 30 for a match, perhaps in September.

Brazil had most of the possession and had several chances to score more goals, with Neymar missing a couple of opportunities from open play.

Brazil made four changes from the team that defeated South Korea. Dropped to the bench were goalkeeper Weverton, defender Thiago Silva, left back Alex Sandro and striker Richarlison. In their places, Alisson started in goal, Eder Militao and Guilherme in defense, and Vinicius Junior at striker, Associated Press reported.

Lucas Paqueta hit the post just a minute into the match, Fred hit the crossbar 10 minutes later, and Raphinha forced Japanese goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda to make the first save of the match from a close-range shot about 20 minutes into the game.

Neymar had his best chance midway through the first half but Gonda dived to his left to stop the effort. Gonda denied him again just before halftime, while Raphinha also missed a free kick late in the half.

Japan posed some threats early with Junya Ito trying to cross balls in from the right wing, forcing several corners, and also pressed early in the second half without managing to test goalkeeper Alisson, who had a quiet night.

In another friendly between Asian and South American teams, South Korea beat Chile 2-0. Hwang Hee-chan and Son Heung-min scored a goal each at home in Daejeon, according to Associated Press.

Brazil routed South Korea 5-1 last week.

More cases of the rare monkeypox virus, normally found in Africa, have been confirmed in the UK, bringing the total to 302, BBC reported.

Twenty-six other countries have also had cases, including many in Europe.

Health officials say anyone can get monkeypox, particularly if they've had close contact with someone with symptoms.

They advise contacting NHS 111 or a sexual health clinic if you have a rash with blisters on any part of the body.

The UK Health Security Agency says there are currently 287 confirmed cases of monkeypox in England, 10 in Scotland, three in Wales and two in Northern Ireland.

In total, 780 cases of monkeypox have been found in recent weeks in countries where the virus is not usually present, outside of west and central Africa, according to BBC.

Spain, Portugal, France, Canada, Australia and Mexico are just some of the countries to have been affected.

The risk to the general population is low and the symptoms usually clear up within a few weeks, but the virus can be more severe in those who are particularly vulnerable.

Monkeypox is not sexually transmitted but it looks like the infection has been introduced in networks of gay and bisexual men in the UK, and that's where most cases are currently being seen.

According to figures released last week, many of them are young men living in London. 

Monkeypox is not spread easily between people but it can be passed on through close contact with skin, clothes, bedding and towels. So far, no one factor linking the cases in the UK has been identified, BBC reported.

The latest advice is to contact NHS 111 or a sexual health clinic if you have a rash with blisters, and you've:

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa vowed to finish the remaining two years in his term despite monthslong street protests calling for his ouster, but won’t stand for re-election as he focuses on fixing a financial mess that tipped Sri Lanka into its worst-ever economic crisis, Hindustan Times reported.

“I can’t go as a failed president,” Rajapaksa said Monday in a wide-ranging interview at his official residence in Colombo, his first with a foreign media organization since the crisis unfolded. “I have been given a mandate for five years. I will not contest again.”

The defiance comes in the face of slogans of “Gota Go Home,” with protesters blaming Rajapaksa and his family for decisions that led to severe shortages of everything from fuel to medicine, stoking inflation to 40% and forcing a historic debt default. Thousands of demonstrators have camped outside the president’s seaside office since mid-March, forcing him to retreat to his barricaded official residence about a kilometer away.

The economic tailspin spiraled into political turmoil with the resignation of the president’s old brother -- Mahinda Rajapaksa -- as the nation’s prime minister, after clashes between government supporters and the protesters turned bloody in May.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are now seeking about $4 billion in aid this year from the International Monetary Fund and countries including India and China. Sri Lanka’s rupee has lost about 82% over the past year and the central bank on Monday flagged the possibility of a further correction. While the nation’s debt trades deep in distressed territory, bonds were quoted slightly higher on Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, according to Hindustan Times.

“This is unlikely to placate protesters who are calling for his immediate resignation,” said Patrick Curran, an economist at Tellimer. “With presidential elections more than two years away, Rajapaksa’s decision to see his term through will contribute to heightened political uncertainty over the next couple years and could hamper reform efforts.” 

The president said he wanted to replicate his previous successful stints serving the nation. Gotabaya Rajapaksa oversaw the urban development authority and was Sri Lanka’s defense secretary under then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, when they crushed a 30-year civil war in 2009, Hindustan Times reported.

Russia's UN ambassador has stormed out of a UN Security Council meeting after the European Council president blamed Russia's invasion of Ukraine for causing a global food crisis, BBC reported.

Charles Michel said Russia was using food supplies as a "stealth missile" against the developing world, forcing people into poverty.

The Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia accused Mr Michel of spreading lies.

The war has left food stuck at Ukrainian ports. 

Ukraine is a large exporter of cooking oil as well as cereals such as maize and wheat. Russia also exports vast amounts of grains as well as fertiliser. The lack of these exports has caused the price of alternatives to soar.

"Mr Ambassador of the Russian Federation, let's be honest, the Kremlin is using food supplies as a stealth missile against developing countries," Mr Michel said during the Security Council meeting in New York.

"The dramatic consequences of Russia's war are spilling over across the globe, and this is driving up food prices, pushing people into poverty, and destabilising entire regions.

"Russia is solely responsible for this food crisis."

He added that he had seen for himself the millions of tons of grain stuck in the Ukrainian port of Odesa because of a naval blockade enforced by Russia, according to BBC.

Mr Michel also accused Russia of stealing grain and preventing crop planting and harvesting in Ukraine because of its military activities there.

His comments led to Mr Nebenzia storming out. As he left, Mr Michel addressed him directly: "You may leave the room, maybe it's easier not to listen to the truth".

Mr Nebenzia told Reuters he couldn't stay because of "the lies that Charles Michel came here to distribute".

In a separate meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said Russia was preventing Ukrainian grain exports from leaving the country and accused Russian forces of destroying Ukrainian agricultural infrastructure.

Speaking during a virtual roundtable with philanthropists, non-governmental organisations and private sector entities, Mr Blinken said: "There's somewhere around 20m tons of wheat that's trapped in silos near Odesa, and in ships literally filled with grain that are stuck in the Odesa port because of this Russian blockade."

Like Mr Michel, he said there were credible reports that Russia was "pilfering" Ukraine's grain to sell for its own profit, BBC reported.

Russia has begun turning over the bodies of Ukrainian fighters killed at the Azovstal steelworks, the fortress-like plant in the destroyed city of Mariupolwhere their last-ditch stand became a symbol of resistance against Moscow’s invasion, Associated Press reported.

Dozens of the dead taken from the bombed-out mill’s now Russian-occupied ruins have been transferred to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where DNA testing is underway to identify the remains, according to both a military leader and a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.

The Azov Regiment was among the Ukrainian units that defended the steelworks for nearly three months before surrendering in May under relentless Russian attacks from the ground, sea and air.

It was unclear how many bodies might remain at the plant.

Meanwhile, Russian forces continued to fight for control of Sievierodonetsk, an eastern Ukrainian city that is key to Moscow’s goal of completing the capture of the industrial Donbas region.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces were holding their positions in the city amid fierce fighting in the streets as Russia tries to deploy more forces.

“But it is the 103rd day, and the Ukrainian Donbas stands. It stands firmly,” he said in his nightly address to the nation.

Zelenskyy also said Moscow’s forces intend to take the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, home to more than 700,000 people, a move that could severely weaken Ukraine’s standing and allow the Russian military to advance closer to the center of the country, according to Associated Press.

“In the Zaporizhzhia region ... there is the most threatening situation there,” Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian fighters’ dogged defense of the steel mill frustrated the Kremlin’s objective of quickly capturing Mariupol and tied down Russian forces in the strategic port city.

The defenders’ fate in Russian hands is shrouded in uncertainty. Zelenskyy said more than than 2,500 fighters from the plant are being held prisoner, and Ukraine is working to win their release.

The recovery of their remains from the Azovstal ruins has not been announced by the Ukrainian government, and Russian officials have not commented. But relatives of soldiers killed at the plant discussed the process with The Associated Press.

Ukraine on Saturday announced the first officially confirmed swap of its military dead since the war began. It said the two sides exchanged 320 bodies in all, each getting back 160 sets of remains. The swap took place Thursday on the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Anna Holovko, a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment, said all 160 of the Ukrainian bodies turned over by the Russians were from the Azovstal ruins. She said that at least 52 of those bodies are thought to be the remains of Azov Regiment soldiers, Associated Press reported.

Maksym Zhorin, a former Azov Regiment leader now co-commanding a Kyiv-based military unit, confirmed that bodies from the steel plant were among those exchanged.

The brother of an Azov fighter missing and feared dead in the steelworks told the AP that at least two trucks of bodies from Azovstal were transferred to a military hospital in Kyiv for identification.

Viacheslav Drofa said the remains of his elder brother, Dmitry Lisen, did not appear to be among those recovered so far. He added that some of the dead were severely burned.

The mother of a soldier killed in an airstrike on the plant said the Azov Regiment telephoned her and said her son’s body might be among those transferred to Kyiv. The mother did not want her or her son to be identified by name, saying she feared that discussing the recovery process might disrupt it.

She tearfully referred to her son as a hero. “It’s important for me to bury him in our Ukrainian land,” she said.

In other developments Monday, Ukraine’s efforts to fight off Russia’s invasion loomed large over D-Day commemorations in France, where the 78th anniversary of the Normandy invasion was marked.

“The fight in Ukraine is about honoring these veterans of World War II,” Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, according to Associated Press.

He added: “It’s about maintaining the so-called global rules-based international order that was established by the dead who are buried here at this cemetery.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived a no-confidence vote on Monday, securing enough support from his Conservative Party to remain in office despite a substantial rebellion that leaves him a weakened leader with an uncertain future, Associated Press reported.

Known for his ability to shrug off scandals, the charismatic leader has struggled to turn the page on revelations that he and his staff repeatedly held boozy parties that flouted the COVID-19 restrictions they imposed on others. Support among his fellow Conservative lawmakers has weakened as some see a leader renowned for his ability to connect with voters increasingly as a liability rather than an asset in elections.

Johnson won the backing of 211 out of 359 Conservative lawmakers in a secret ballot, more than the simple majority needed to remain in power, but still a significant rebellion of 148 MPs. 

Johnson called it a “convincing” win and said the party should now “come together.”

“What it means is that as a government we can move on and focus on stuff that I think really matters to people,” he said.

With no clear front-runner to succeed him, most political observers had predicted Johnson would defeat the challenge. But the rebellion could still be a watershed moment for him — and is a sign of deep Conservative divisions, less than three years after he led the party to its biggest election victory in decades.

Johnson’s winning margin is less than that secured by his predecessor Theresa May in a similar vote in December 2018. She was forced to resign six months later, according to Associated Press.

Since replacing May as prime minister in 2019, Johnson has led Britain out of the European Union and through a pandemic, both of which have shaken the U.K. socially and economically. The vote comes as Johnson’s government is under intense pressure to ease the pain of skyrocketing energy and food bills.

But the main blow to his leadership has been revelations that he and his staff repeatedly held illegal parties during lockdowns. That caused anger in the country, and unease among many Conservatives.

Discontent that has been building for months erupted after a 10-day parliamentary break that included a long weekend of celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. For many, the four-day holiday was a chance to relax — but there was no respite for Johnson, who was booed by some onlookers as he arrived for a service in the queen’s honor at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Friday.

Conservative Party official Graham Brady announced Monday that he had received letters calling for a no-confidence vote from at least 54 Tory legislators, enough to trigger the measure under party rules. Hours later, party lawmakers lined up by the dozen in a corridor at Parliament to cast their ballots in a wood-paneled room, handing over their phones as they entered to ensure secrecy, Associated Press reported.

Johnson addressed dozens of Conservative lawmakers in a House of Commons room before the vote as he tried to shore up support, vowing: “I will lead you to victory again.”

Johnson’s allies had insisted he would stay in office if he won by even a single vote.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said Johnson had won the vote “handsomely,” and urged the party to “draw a line under this now.”

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, one of the favorites to succeed Johnson if he is ousted, tweeted: “Pleased that colleagues have backed the Prime Minister. I support him 100%. Now’s the time to get on with the job.”

But previous prime ministers who survived no-confidence votes emerged severely weakened, according to Associated Press.

The government has decided to revoke its decision to grant a two-day weekend--Saturday and Sunday.

A Cabinet meeting held on Monday decided to overturn its decision to provide two days of holiday a week.

The decision will come into effect from June 15.

Earlier on April 27, the government had decided to grant a two-day weekend effective from May 15 as a trial.

The government took the decision with a view to reducing the consumption of fuel. 

The concerned stakeholders had been piling pressure on the government to roll back its decision to provide two days of holiday a week. 

Earlier this afternoon, advocates Tej Kumar Lohiya, Ram Bahadur Shahi, Santosh Bhandari, Trilok Chand and Deepak Khanal among others filed a writ petition at the Supreme Court against the government decision to provide two days of holiday a week.

The government has promoted five Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs) to the post of Additional Inspector General of the Nepal Police.

A Cabinet meeting held on Monday decided to promote them to the post of AIG on the recommendation of the Promotion Committee of the Home Ministry.

The government has decided to promote DIGs Uttam Raj Subedi, Arun Kumar BC, Dibesh Lohani, Mukunda Raj Acharya and Puja Singh to the post of AIG.

A meeting of the Promotion Committee held on  May 23 had recommended the government to promote them to AIG.